Archive for July, 2011

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has told the Boston Globe that centerMarc Savardis still dealing with post-concussion symptoms, as the center continues to experience headaches stemming from his latest concussion. The report notes that “barring an immediate turnaround in his condition,” Savard will not be ready for training camp.

Savard, who missed the beginning of last season due to post-concussion syndrome, was once again shut down for the year after taking a routine hit from former teammate Matt Hunwick in the Bruins’ Jan. 22 contest vs. the Avalanche.

As a result of all the concussion issues, Savard played in just 25 games last season, 14 short of the 41 (or one in the finals) required for one to get their name on the Stanley Cup. The Bruins petitioned for both Savard and Steven Kampfer (38 regular-season games) to get their names on the trophy, but the report notes there is no news on the matter. Savard will have his day with the Cup on Monday.

Bruins forward Brad Marchandsaid last week that hoped he and the B’s would have his new contract wrapped up over the course of the next week, and with no contract inked yet, it seems the wait may be longer. Marchand’s agent, Wade Arnott, told ESPN Boston Tuesday that negotiations with the B’s and the restricted free agent are not far along.

‘We remain in the early stages of contract discussions with the Bruins,’ Arnott told ESPN Boston’s James Murphy.

Marchand had 21 goals and 20 assists for 41 points in the regular season as a rookie. His 11 goals in the playoffs were second among all players, behind only teammate David Krejci.

‘Not at all,’ Marchand said last week when asked if he was surprised negotiations were taking so long. ‘There’s been a lot going on, obviously with the Cup and everything. That’s taking the leading role in everything, so I’m not surprised at all.

Good new, Bruins fans. When Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuartroll into town on Nov. 26, they’ll actually be wearing jerseys. After going logo-less since the Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg, the Jets on Friday revealed their new logos.

The logo isn’t exactly reminiscent of the olden days, but it certainly gets this scribe’s approval. Images courtesy of NHL.com.

Zdeno Chara has the Stanley Cup for the beginning of the weekend (Friday and Saturday), and the Bruins’ captain kicked off his time with it in his native Slovakia by enjoying some rice pudding from the trophy. Here’s a photo of Chara doing so, courtesy of Slovakian website sme.sk:

After the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last month, we asked B’s general manager Peter Chiarelli whether he had planned on petitioning for Marc Savard and Steven Kampfer to get their names put on the trophy, and the GM said he intended to do so. One has to play either 41 regular season games or one Stanley Cup finals game in order to get on the Cup, but if the league is flexible, both Savard and Kampfer have easy cases.

Savard, who played in only 25 games, would have played more had he not suffered a season-ending concussion. Kampfer played 38 games and was injured while playing in Providence late in the season.

As it relates to Savard, Greg Wyshysnki of the Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo! Sports (great for national stuff and a daily must-read), asked Bruins director of communications Matt Chmura recently, with Chmura relaying that no decisions had been made.

It’s hard to imagine this being a major issue either way. If one had to bet on it, the safe bet would be that both Savard and Kampfer should end up getting their names on the Cup.

Stick-tap to our friend Matt Kalman of The Bruins Blog for catching this story about Tomas Kaberle‘s day with the Stanley Cup yesterday. We posted a couple of videos of Kaberle with the Cup in the Czech Republic yesterday, but nobody could have seen this coming. Check out this photo from isport.cz, which the Globe and Mail picked up:

After a brief stop to take some pictures with the Cup, Kaberle just entered Kladno for a stop at Velky Tanecni Sal, which appears to be a Knights of Columbus-type establishment, where hundreds of people are waiting for an opportunity to see their Stanley Cup Champion and local hero.

Upon entering the hall, Kaberle was greeted by a band called The Hello Piggy Band. Kaberle was brought on stage and received a sword and shield. He also presented the Stanley Cup to the crowd and received a real hero’s welcome when he hoisted the trophy over his head.

One probably has tons of questions after seeing this, none of which should be bigger than the mystery of why Kaberle didn’t invide Joe Lo Truglio and Christopher Mintz-Plasse along.

While Dean and Chaput will spend next season in Providence, Knight and Spooner will not. Because they are both 19 years of age and will not be 20 before Dec. 31, they will either have to make the Bruins’ NHL squad or return to their OHL clubs.

Spooner was told last year by the Bruins that he needed to put work in to get stronger, and general manager Peter Chiarelli said at this month’s development camp that Spooner clearly had done what was required of him. He echoed how much he’s been impressed by each player’s progress Wednesday.

“Both of them got a little bit stronger, a little bit faster,” Chiarelli told a pool reporter. “Specifically Spooner, his testing improved from when we did the last till now. And you can see his a little bit bigger a little bit faster, a little bit more committed. Knight was always strong, he seemed a little more comfortable with his game at that level. And they both had good junior years. So I like to see them put some work in and then we decided to sign them.”

Once again, Chiarelli offered no update on the negotiations with restricted free agentBrad Marchand.

“I’m not going to comment on progress,” he said. “We want to get him signed and we’ll continue to work towards that.”